Six teams are on a bye this week, so some of your go-to players won’t be available. Stars like Saquon Barkley, Odell Beckham Jr., , and all have the week off, forcing you to plug in replacement players who won’t have your full confidence.
In addition, three other players, , and , find themselves in new places after the trade deadline, perhaps requiring them a week or two to get up to speed in their new offense.
Not ideal circumstances with the fantasy football playoffs just weeks away but here are six roster moves — three players to start and three to sit — to ensure you have the best week possible.
Start
, RB,
Peterson 1, Father Time 0.
The 33-year-old rusher has carried the ball 127 times for Washington this season, producing 587 yards and four touchdowns, the latest a 64-yard score that marked the first time since 1921 a running back as old or older than Peterson ran for a touchdown 60 or more yards.
On Sunday he will face an Atlanta defense that ranks 26th against the run per Pro Football Focus and second-worst per Football Outsiders’ Defense-adjusted Value Over Average.
, WR,
Quarterback Cam Newton and Funchess have combined for a 102.5 passer rating in 2018, including two catchable deep passes (20 yards or more) for two touchdowns.
In addition, his overall target share in the red zone (35 percent) is the fifth-most among wideouts, a matchup nightmare for a Tampa Bay secondary that is the seventh-worst overall per Pro Football Focus. And finally, the Buccaneers defense is allowing opponents to score a touchdown on a league-high 88 percent of drives; league average is 58 percent.
George Kittle, TE, San Francisco 49ers
Kittle has been an underrated fantasy gem.
The second-year pro out of Iowa leads the team in targets (57) and receiving yards (584) with the second-most touchdowns (two). Kittle’s yards per route run in 2018 is tied for the most at the position with (2.4) and is higher than all but nine wideouts this season.
That’s very bad news for this week’s opponent, the , who are the worst at defending the tight end position: Oakland is allowing a league-high 138.5 passer rating against to quarterbacks that target tight ends on passing plays in 2018.
Sit
, QB,
Brees is enjoying a fine season so far — he even got a nifty certificate commemorating his surpassing of ‘s mark for most passing yards in NFL history — but the Rams defense should give him all he can handle and more on Sunday.
The Rams boast the league’s second-best pass rushing unit per Pro Football Focus, featuring the highest-rated interior lineman, . Then they acquired defensive end Dante Fowler Jr. from the at the trade deadline. Fowler had eight tackles and two sacks in seven games with the Jaguars this season.
Their pass coverage ranks third thanks in part to safety Lamarcus Joyner allowing 15 total yards on five targets thrown into his coverage, giving him a league-low 0.05 yards per cover snap. In addition, pass-catching running backs, like Alvin Kamara, manage less than 35 receiving yards per game against Los Angeles this year.
For context, Minnesota’s defense, which limited Brees to 120 passing yards, one touchdown and an interception last week, ranks No. 16 for pass rushing and 21st in pass coverage.
Alex Collins, RB,
Collins carried the ball 11 times for 49 yards and a touchdown in Sunday’s loss to Carolina yet will likely have a hard time finding the end zone against the Steelers this week.
Pittsburgh has the second-best run defense per Pro Football Focus and is stopping ball-carriers at or behind the line of scrimmage more than one-fourth the time (27 percent). Only the Buccaneers and Eagles have better stuff rates this season.
Patriots defense and special teams
New England held the to six points on Monday night but this week’s opponent, the , is significantly better at generating points.
For example, Green Bay is producing over two points per drive, more than double that of Buffalo. The Bills are also forced into a three-and-out situation 42 percent of the time; the Packers, meanwhile, go three-and-out just 29 percent of the time; league average is 31 percent.